This Month's Cover
Magazine

Sojourners Magazine: January-February 1997

Subscribe to Sojourners for as little as $3.95!

Cover Story

In the breadth of her person, and in the specifics of the projects that she undertook, Jean Sindab wove together the long, proud lineage of struggle for economic, racial, and social justice...
Jean Sindab's place in history.
The courage and compassion of Jean Sindab.

Feature

The lingering power of evangelical populism.
Work that is a trap, work that demeans, work that slaughters, work that destroys souls or the world—this isn't divinely ordained, nor divinely blessed.
Contemplation, freedom, and the spirit of leisure.

Commentary

Poverty is now the enemy as Nicaraguans battle on.
The Nation's "great unfinished task."
Traveling across the country during the 1996 Presidential campaign, I saw almost no yard signs or bumper stickers with the names of the presidential nominees on them.
Working to close the School of the Americas
The hunger for dialogue in the Catholic Church.
Newt's revolution moves north.

Columns

For the first time in memory, the Latino community took to the streets of Washington, D.C., in large numbers on October 12, 1996.
Wesley Woods is a United Methodist retirement high-rise in my Atlanta neighborhood.
The phone call came as it does to many parents at some point in the growing-up years of their children. Colleen had fallen off the jungle gym at school, and could I please pick her up?
During the fall 1996 Call to Renewal tour, we had the opportunity to speak directly to thousands of people across the country, and to hear their questions and concerns.
I confess that on Election Day this past November I didn't vote my conscience or my pocketbook.
Would it be cruel to extol the virtues of chocolate these dark, cold days of January and February, months traditionally reserved for dietary resolutions and abstention from such temptations?

Culture Watch

New calendars adorn office desks and kitchen walls. Daily organizers with pages still fresh, crisp, and clean fill breast pockets, backpacks, and briefcases.
Novelist Jon Hassler's rich search for community.
The religious dimension of Paul Schrader's films.
The Spirit's presence of fictional lives.
''Of the making of books, there is no end" goes a moth-eaten quotation. But maybe there is after all. At least that's the war cry of the latter-day Luddites.
Fear and Loathing at Big Joy Farm.
Sam Phillips' sardonic look at popular culture.
Scott Adams unites the workers of the world.
Reynolds Price's story of good news.

Departments

There is a time when the operation of the machine becomes so odious, makes you so sick at heart, that you can't take part. You can't even passively take part....  
IN "HEARTS & MINDS" (September-October 1996), Jim Wallis refers to President Clinton's character problem as though it is a clearly defined, verified fact, rather than a generalized accusation.
I WANT TO celebrate with you your 25th anniversary ("Celebrating 25 Years," November-December 1996). I have been a loyal friend and subscriber for nearly that long.
I WOULD LIKE to thank you for your article on Jesse Helms in the September-October issue.
Our cover story is a tribute to Jean Sindab, a tireless worker for peace and justice and a joy-filled and fun-loving woman who died a year ago this month of cancer.
An interfaith alliance of religious activists—including Christians, Jews, and Buddhists—has joined other environmentalists...
Across the country, people are hungry to put their faith into action.
Bringing people together
IN HER ARTICLE about Dr. Kevorkian, Julie Polter is right when she says, "There is too much mystery inherent in death and life for us to claim any simple answers
The National Labor Committee, the group that linked Kathie Lee Gifford's clothing line with sweatshops, is now looking into Disney's production of children's clothing in a Burmese assembly plant.
Young, Catholic, and Feminist?
A theological program in Sing Sing prison rehabilitates and renews.
Reflections on the revised common lectionary, cycle B.
Several of our readers have contacted us asking for the date and circumstances of Henri Nouwen's death.
IN "HEARTS & MINDS" (September-October 1996), Jim Wallis refers to President Clinton's character problem as though it is a clearly defined, verified fact, rather than a generalized accusation.
Dianna Ortiz, the Ursuline nun who vigiled and fasted in front of the White House for six weeks last spring to pressure the government to release the identity of her torturers...